Pygmalion (Dover Thrift Editions)
 

Pygmalion (Dover Thrift Editions)

by George Bernard Shaw

A rousing success on the London and New York stages, a popular film and a great musical hit (My Fair Lady), this brilliantly written play, with its irresistible theme of the emerging butterfly, is one of the most acclaimed comedies in the English language.

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Member Reviews

  • Lord Manleigh
    2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
    • Rated 5 stars

    Shaw's best-known (thanks to Lerner and Loewe) and best -loved play, a wonderful fable about "class". Very funny. Required reading!

    Lord Manleigh wrote this review Wednesday, April 16 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Kaisha J
    1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
    • Rated 3 stars

    So much better than My Fair Lady.

    Kaisha J wrote this review Wednesday, June 11 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • kairilily
    • Rated 5 stars

    Eliza Doolittle was just a poor girl selling flowers on the street when she happens to meet Henry Higgins. Higgins studies phonetics and claims to be able to take any poor street girl like Eliza and be able to pass her off as a duchess after a few short months. He places a bet with the Colonel and takes Eliza under his wing.

    I didn't have a clue that this was what "My Fair Lady" was based on until I started reading it and recognized the names! It's such a wonderful story. Very witty and fun, but serious at the same time.

    kairilily wrote this review 2 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • OBad
    • Rated 4 stars

    I liked the issue discussed by the author in this play; how we want to make people ideal and civilized and forget that they have hearts. It is exactly what the Greek Pygmalion did when he made the perfect statue ever made, which was exactly a beautiful girl look-alike, and fell in love with, but suddenly he realized it didn't talk at all, and then he smashed it. Really interesting !!

    OBad wrote this review Wednesday, October 1 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • sef
    • Rated 5 stars

    I love Shaw's plays (even his discussion plays) and I think this is by far the best. I watched the movie beforehand and thought it was funny, but this one is funnier and has a better and more sound ending. A hundred times better than the film adaptation. After reading Wilde's plays, I thought no one can equal his wit and satire but Shaw makes the cut. I have fallen in love with Shaw's humor and philosophy.

    sef wrote this review Wednesday, September 24 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Dr. J. G.
    • Rated 4 stars

    This is the original play that the very famous and popular "My fair Lady" is based on, except that was more of a sweet version, and this retains the original English, perhaps British or even Irish, taste - not sweet, not sour, not bitter or hot, but a little salt and some of that sixth taste that we call "kasaila".

    Here at the end there is a very well written epilogue that explains why the professor does not propose to any woman or have any romantic affair with any woman (and certainly with no man either) - not as a sickness on his part, but as a matter of evolution, and he is very evolved indeed.

    Unlike US of today the social norms of Britain then were quite different and sex was not a compulsory activity to prove one was normal, and for that matter normal was never defined as average, either.

    So eccentricity was not only allowed it positively thrived and flourished, and benefitted the society enormously. Men like the professor could devote their time and energy to their prefered pusuits. He does end up baffled and quite unable to escape Elizabeth Dolittle though.

    Dr. J. G. wrote this review Monday, September 22 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • SmilingirlBlue
    • Rated 5 stars

    My Fair Lady without the Hollywood focus group ending.

    SmilingirlBlue wrote this review Friday, May 30 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Andrea G
    • Rated 3 stars

    Easy read. I enjoyed reading this one as Outside Reading in HS.

    Andrea G wrote this review Thursday, May 29 2008. ( reply | permalink )
  • Jaya P
    • Rated 0 stars

    A real entertaining CLASSIC

    Jaya P wrote this review Friday, March 21 2008. ( reply | permalink )
Displaying 1-10 of 29 reviews
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